Friday, December 24, 2010
Holiday break
Today is my birthday and I'm celebrating the 9th year of my second chance at life following my lung transplant in 2002. I have much to be thankful for and I'm taking a holiday break to enjoy the festive season with family and friends. Regular posts will continue soon. Best wishes to all for continued health and happiness. Merv.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Donate Life Float in Rose Parade January 1st
One of my favorite things to do on New Year's Day is to sit back and relax with my feet up and watch the Rose Parade. I always look for the Donate Life Float and just by chance a few years ago I came across KTLA-TV from Los Angeles while flipping channels. KTLA takes us behind the scenes with close-ups of the floats and interviews with the designers and riders. They come on the air at 6 a.m. PST (9 a.m. EST) and continue with the parade starting at 8 a.m. PST (11 a.m. EST). Many cable companies and other providers carry KTLA as a super station. In my area Rogers Cable carries it on channel 344. This year's theme is Seize The Day as depicted in this image.
Colorful kites soar in the wind as donor families, living donors and transplant recipients enjoy a special moment and make new memories. The tails of the kites are adorned with memorial ‘floragraph’ portraits of deceased donors whose legacies lift the kites and the hopes of those in need of transplants. The float’s 24 float riders, led by three walkers, honor all donors and the everyday dreams they make possible through the gift of life. Thousands of organ, eye and tissue donors nationwide are memorialized with dedicated roses, each vial carrying a personal message of love, hope and remembrance.
Donate Life hopes millions of parade viewers and spectators are inspired to Seize the Day, spend time with their families, and join the nearly 90 million Americans who have registered as organ, eye and tissue donors on their state donor registries by visiting www.donatelife.net.
Donate Life's 2011 Rose Parade float entry soars with colorful kites that inspire people to Seize the Day and register as organ, eye and tissue donors. |
Flying a kite is an opportunity seized to share laughter, sun, wind, and the visual beauty of the moment. Through their life-changing experiences, the families of organ and tissue donors, living donors, and recipients of life-saving transplants teach us all a profound lesson: to Seize the Day! and make the most of every moment to build dreams, friendships and memories with loved ones.
Donate Life hopes millions of parade viewers and spectators are inspired to Seize the Day, spend time with their families, and join the nearly 90 million Americans who have registered as organ, eye and tissue donors on their state donor registries by visiting www.donatelife.net.
“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Support the Fresh Air Fund and help inner-city kids enjoy summer
One of my favorite charities, The Fresh Air Fund, makes it possible for boys and girls, six to 12 years old, who reside in low-income communities in New York City to enjoy the experience of spending two weeks of life outside the city each summer. The New York City Half-Marathon has been a major fundraiser for the Fresh Air Fund and last year Fresh Air Fund Racers raised $100,000. The 2011 race will take place on March 20, 2011 and they are calling all runners and Fresh Air Fund supporters to come out and either challenge themselves to run the race or join our cheering squad. The Fresh Air Fund provides runners with guaranteed entry in exchange for fundraising before race day. Entries are limited - please get in touch soon! Please email kbrinkerhoff@freshair.org or call (212) 897-8890.
I received the following update from Sara Wilson of the Fresh Air Fund and after reading it I'm sure you will agree that this program is an amazing success. Be sure to check out the Facebook page and view the photos submitted by host families. You will be touched.
Hi Merv
I wanted to write you a quick note to thank you for helping us this year with your posts on Merv Sheppard’s Transplant Network. The Fresh Air Fund was thrilled with all of the interest generated within the blogosphere for our Fresh Air children. We had close to 5000 volunteer host families open their home to a NYC child and 3000 children visited our camps. It was a great summer! Our Facebook Page continues to be a hub of activity for all things Fresh Air Fund. There are some excellent photos and videos we've posted along with photos from our host families. Please "like" us and it would be great if you could encourage your readers to do the same:
http://www.facebook.com/freshairfund
All of us at The Fresh Air Fund really appreciate your support. Together we can make sure these children have everything they need well in advance: camp counselors, host families, and plenty of resources!
Thank you so very much,
Sara
--
Sara Wilson,
The Fresh Air Fund
sara@freshair.org
www.freshair.org
“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You
Monday, December 13, 2010
Heart/Lung Transplant recipient marks anniversary with 10-km walk
Congratulations to Dana Trude for persevering in her efforts to excel in life following her transformation from being gravely ill to receiving a double-lung and heart transplant four years ago. I got to know Dana before her transplant and she is an inspiration to all who overcome adversity and get on with life.
Photo: Melissa Tait/Record staff
BY BRENT DAVIS, TheRECORD.com STAFF
It’s been four years since Dana Trude received a new lease on life, in the form of a new heart and lungs.
So it was time to celebrate.
The Kitchener, Ontario woman chose to mark Sunday’s anniversary in Hawaii, completing a 10-kilometer fundraising walk for diabetes. The early-morning event was held in conjunction with the Honolulu Marathon, which attracted nearly 23,000 runners from around the world.
“Every year for me is a milestone, and to celebrate it in such a tropical paradise is even better,” the 49-year-old said from Hawaii Sunday night.
Trude was part of the 61-strong Team Diabetes, a fundraising program of the Canadian Diabetes Association which takes part in national and international events. Together, they raised about $230,000; Trude raised about $6,300, surpassing her $6,000 goal.
“I had a lot of wonderful support and sponsorships,” she said. Trude completed the walk — jogging a bit and stopping to take a few photos along the way — in just under two hours.
“I’m happy that I completed it,” she said. “I was a little apprehensive at first, but I had a lot of support.”
A number of serious conditions, including pulmonary hypertension, an aortic aneurysm and ventricular arrhythmia, prompted the double lung and heart transplant in 2006.
Trude likely developed diabetes as a complication of the transplant surgery or the anti-rejection medication required post-surgery. And she’s struggled with some other medical challenges, like a failing kidney, in the years since the operation.
But on Sunday, she was feeling great.
“I feel as healthy as anybody else,” Trude said. “My motto when I left the hospital was ‘I’m going to stay alive until I’m 95.’”
Trude took up walking primarily because of her diabetes, but also because she wanted to get out and meet people. She said her husband, Sam, teases her about the treadmill sitting dormant in their home.
She has participated in a number of fundraising walks in support of kidney transplants and cancer research, in memory of her mother. She’d also like to look into the possibility of sharing her story with others.
“If there was some way I could get out there to inspire people . . . I’d really like to try and help people who are struggling with their illness.”
BY BRENT DAVIS, TheRECORD.com STAFF
It’s been four years since Dana Trude received a new lease on life, in the form of a new heart and lungs.
So it was time to celebrate.
The Kitchener, Ontario woman chose to mark Sunday’s anniversary in Hawaii, completing a 10-kilometer fundraising walk for diabetes. The early-morning event was held in conjunction with the Honolulu Marathon, which attracted nearly 23,000 runners from around the world.
“Every year for me is a milestone, and to celebrate it in such a tropical paradise is even better,” the 49-year-old said from Hawaii Sunday night.
Trude was part of the 61-strong Team Diabetes, a fundraising program of the Canadian Diabetes Association which takes part in national and international events. Together, they raised about $230,000; Trude raised about $6,300, surpassing her $6,000 goal.
“I had a lot of wonderful support and sponsorships,” she said. Trude completed the walk — jogging a bit and stopping to take a few photos along the way — in just under two hours.
“I’m happy that I completed it,” she said. “I was a little apprehensive at first, but I had a lot of support.”
A number of serious conditions, including pulmonary hypertension, an aortic aneurysm and ventricular arrhythmia, prompted the double lung and heart transplant in 2006.
Trude likely developed diabetes as a complication of the transplant surgery or the anti-rejection medication required post-surgery. And she’s struggled with some other medical challenges, like a failing kidney, in the years since the operation.
But on Sunday, she was feeling great.
“I feel as healthy as anybody else,” Trude said. “My motto when I left the hospital was ‘I’m going to stay alive until I’m 95.’”
Trude took up walking primarily because of her diabetes, but also because she wanted to get out and meet people. She said her husband, Sam, teases her about the treadmill sitting dormant in their home.
She has participated in a number of fundraising walks in support of kidney transplants and cancer research, in memory of her mother. She’d also like to look into the possibility of sharing her story with others.
“If there was some way I could get out there to inspire people . . . I’d really like to try and help people who are struggling with their illness.”
“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Kidney Recipient, 9, Says Thanks at Fundraiser
By Ron Savage myFOXDetroit.com
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WJBK) - A young man has given the ultimate gift. As he was dying, his donation helped so many others live. Gift of Life Michigan promotes the benefits of organ donation, but a spaghetti dinner fundraiser became emotional when a nine-year-old kidney recipient showed up to say thanks.
Josh Tolan, a star quarterback for Brandon High was lost far too soon when he was killed. He was the victim of a car crash after someone ran into him one year ago.
"Unfortunately, the day of the accident … when they came and told us that he wasn't going to make it, that he was brain dead, it was almost instantaneously my wife and I said, 'Well, what about organ donation," said Dan Tolan.
So, Josh's parents told doctors to use his organs for someone else. Less than 24 hours later, that someone else was an eight-year-old boy from Birch Run, Jacob Roedell, who is now nine and has a new kidney. There was a lot of hugging and tears as Jacob and his family met Josh's family at Brandon High in Ortonville at the Gift of Life Michigan fundraiser. The organization coordinates transplants.
When Josh's mother saw Jacob smile with her son's kidney, she said, "It just helps to reiterate that we made the right decision. I mean, you can see a child just run through the room, and he had a smile on his face that lit up the room, too, I thought when he came in, and it reminded me of my son in a way because he had a smile for everything," said Ranelle Tolan.
"Just seeing how much it affects people and how it changed people, there's nothing better, I feel," said Matt Rife, Josh's brother.
On New Year's Day, Josh's life will be honored on the Gift of Life Michigan float in the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, California. Red Wings' Nicklas Lidstrom and Hank Zetterberg signed jerseys for this benefit raising awareness for organ transplant. The Wings signed a cap, and former Red Wing Red Berenson autographed one of his NHL sticks.
One of Berenson's current Michigan Wolverines is defense John Merrill, who was also Josh Tolan's cousin.
"I don't think you've ever met anyone that has said anything negative about Josh. I mean, just the best guy in the world. I miss him every day. It's just a tragedy," he said.
Gift of Life Michigan is working right now to encourage more people to become organ donors. Click here for more information on registering to become an organ donor.
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WJBK) - A young man has given the ultimate gift. As he was dying, his donation helped so many others live. Gift of Life Michigan promotes the benefits of organ donation, but a spaghetti dinner fundraiser became emotional when a nine-year-old kidney recipient showed up to say thanks.
Josh Tolan, a star quarterback for Brandon High was lost far too soon when he was killed. He was the victim of a car crash after someone ran into him one year ago.
"Unfortunately, the day of the accident … when they came and told us that he wasn't going to make it, that he was brain dead, it was almost instantaneously my wife and I said, 'Well, what about organ donation," said Dan Tolan.
So, Josh's parents told doctors to use his organs for someone else. Less than 24 hours later, that someone else was an eight-year-old boy from Birch Run, Jacob Roedell, who is now nine and has a new kidney. There was a lot of hugging and tears as Jacob and his family met Josh's family at Brandon High in Ortonville at the Gift of Life Michigan fundraiser. The organization coordinates transplants.
When Josh's mother saw Jacob smile with her son's kidney, she said, "It just helps to reiterate that we made the right decision. I mean, you can see a child just run through the room, and he had a smile on his face that lit up the room, too, I thought when he came in, and it reminded me of my son in a way because he had a smile for everything," said Ranelle Tolan.
"Just seeing how much it affects people and how it changed people, there's nothing better, I feel," said Matt Rife, Josh's brother.
On New Year's Day, Josh's life will be honored on the Gift of Life Michigan float in the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, California. Red Wings' Nicklas Lidstrom and Hank Zetterberg signed jerseys for this benefit raising awareness for organ transplant. The Wings signed a cap, and former Red Wing Red Berenson autographed one of his NHL sticks.
One of Berenson's current Michigan Wolverines is defense John Merrill, who was also Josh Tolan's cousin.
"I don't think you've ever met anyone that has said anything negative about Josh. I mean, just the best guy in the world. I miss him every day. It's just a tragedy," he said.
Gift of Life Michigan is working right now to encourage more people to become organ donors. Click here for more information on registering to become an organ donor.
“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Experimental New Heart Transplant Procedure Keeps Donor Hearts Pumping Until Surgery
In New Procedure, Human Heart Never Stops Beating From Donor to Recipient
By BRADLEY BLACKBURN ABC News
An experimental new heart transplant procedure could change the way transplants are performed in the U.S. Instead of stopping a donor heart and putting it on ice before transplanting, doctors can now keep a human heart beating from the moment it's removed from a donor's body all the way until installation in its new recipient.
Since the first heart transplant 42 years ago, the donor organ was always stopped and kept on ice during transport and surgery. Doctors had to thaw it out first, waiting one hour for every hour that the heart was frozen.
"The normal preservation time, or time that we allow the heart to be outside of the human body, is usually six hours. Maybe the upper limit is close to eight hours," said Dr. Abbas Ardehali, the director of the UCLA Heart and Lung Program and the principal investigator of the study. "With this, it can go on. The upper limit is unknown, maybe up to 24 hours."
The experimental transplantation technique could mean that potential recipients won't be limited to people who happen to live nearby a donor organ.
Procedure a Test Drive for New Heart
In addition, the procedure could allow surgeons to determine right away whether the heart is viable, like a test drive outside of a body. With a frozen heart, surgeons say, it's always a guessing game, until it's too late to put a patient's old heart back.
Californian Andrea Ybarra was waiting a year and a half for a matching heart, so she gladly signed on to be among the first in the experimental study.
Before the surgery, Ybarra would get winded by just walking down the block.
"Now, I'm exercising, doing cardio," she said. "Life is so different now. You just want to go out and enjoy every minute of it."
Beating Heart Recipient on Her Experience
The heart that now beats in Ybarra's chest was kept in motion, beating in a box before it was placed in her body. The organ was donated by a woman who lived in Palm Springs, Calif.
"I thank God and her every day for this," Ybarra said. "One day, we will meet again."
But thanks to this experimental surgery, not anytime soon.
By BRADLEY BLACKBURN ABC News
An experimental new heart transplant procedure could change the way transplants are performed in the U.S. Instead of stopping a donor heart and putting it on ice before transplanting, doctors can now keep a human heart beating from the moment it's removed from a donor's body all the way until installation in its new recipient.
Since the first heart transplant 42 years ago, the donor organ was always stopped and kept on ice during transport and surgery. Doctors had to thaw it out first, waiting one hour for every hour that the heart was frozen.
"The normal preservation time, or time that we allow the heart to be outside of the human body, is usually six hours. Maybe the upper limit is close to eight hours," said Dr. Abbas Ardehali, the director of the UCLA Heart and Lung Program and the principal investigator of the study. "With this, it can go on. The upper limit is unknown, maybe up to 24 hours."
The experimental transplantation technique could mean that potential recipients won't be limited to people who happen to live nearby a donor organ.
Procedure a Test Drive for New Heart
In addition, the procedure could allow surgeons to determine right away whether the heart is viable, like a test drive outside of a body. With a frozen heart, surgeons say, it's always a guessing game, until it's too late to put a patient's old heart back.
Californian Andrea Ybarra was waiting a year and a half for a matching heart, so she gladly signed on to be among the first in the experimental study.
Before the surgery, Ybarra would get winded by just walking down the block.
"Now, I'm exercising, doing cardio," she said. "Life is so different now. You just want to go out and enjoy every minute of it."
Beating Heart Recipient on Her Experience
The heart that now beats in Ybarra's chest was kept in motion, beating in a box before it was placed in her body. The organ was donated by a woman who lived in Palm Springs, Calif.
"I thank God and her every day for this," Ybarra said. "One day, we will meet again."
But thanks to this experimental surgery, not anytime soon.
“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Firefighter tells of rescuing pilot and transplant liver from burning plane in Birmingham
This is a follow up to my previous post about this organ transportation miracle.
by Steve Myall, Daily Mirror
A FIREFIGHTER who rescued a pilot – and a transplant liver – from a burning plane has spoken for the first time about his brave actions.
Lead firefighter Nick Jordan forced his way on to a Cessna plane which crash-landed in fog at Birmingham airport last month.
He pulled the pilot to safety and scooped up the boxed organ, which was delivered to a hospital in the city where a successful transplant operation went ahead.
Nick told the BBC's Inside Out programme: “I’ve gone over it and over it, waking up at night, thinking about it. Luckily for us, everything came out well.
“Both guys came off alive and the liver transplant was an added bonus.
“The smoke was so thick that visibility was impossible. So I felt around to make contact with the pilot.
“It was about seven minutes from the moment we got the call to getting everyone off.”
The plane’s first officer escaped on his own.
by Steve Myall, Daily Mirror
A FIREFIGHTER who rescued a pilot – and a transplant liver – from a burning plane has spoken for the first time about his brave actions.
Lead firefighter Nick Jordan forced his way on to a Cessna plane which crash-landed in fog at Birmingham airport last month.
He pulled the pilot to safety and scooped up the boxed organ, which was delivered to a hospital in the city where a successful transplant operation went ahead.
Nick told the BBC's Inside Out programme: “I’ve gone over it and over it, waking up at night, thinking about it. Luckily for us, everything came out well.
“Both guys came off alive and the liver transplant was an added bonus.
“The smoke was so thick that visibility was impossible. So I felt around to make contact with the pilot.
“It was about seven minutes from the moment we got the call to getting everyone off.”
The plane’s first officer escaped on his own.
“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You
Monday, December 06, 2010
Organ donor registry in Ontario, Canada choked by red tape
Every U.S. state has an online organ donor registry (or has approved it's activation) but the only Canadian province to have one is British Columbia. I've been advocating for an on-line registry in Ontario for several years now only to be met with frustration and excuses such as it would cost too much or privacy issues had to be overcome before a registry could be implemented. I've told the powers that be that young people are not going to go on-line, download a form, print it out, complete the form and mail it in via snail mail. I pointed out they were missing a wonderful opportunity with young people with the Recycleme.org program by not offering a chance to register to be an organ donor on-line. All to no avail. I'm glad the Toronto Star has brought attention to the situation. Let's hope that someday soon Ontario will do something positive to increase the rate of organ donation in this electronic age.
By Barbara Turnbull, Living Reporter The Toronto Star
Linda Hogarth believes it is her duty to register as an organ and tissue donor. It’s certainly fortunate the 70-year-old former saleswoman is committed, because not everyone would have had the time and patience to endure the hassle she experienced.
Her odyssey began when she visited www.giftoflife.on.ca, the website of Trillium Gift Of Life, the agency that coordinates organ and tissue transplants in Ontario. Hogarth printed out the donor form, filled it out, signed it, and mailed it.
Then, she waited six months for a sticker to affix to her red-and-white health card. When none came, she contacted Trillium and was told there was a bottleneck processing forms in Kingston, where the donor registry is maintained.
“I know that the government moves slowly in all its branches, but this is nuts,” Hogarth told the Star.
Hogarth tried again to get a donor sticker, making several trips to Service Ontario offices, where she dealt with three employees before getting the sticker.
“I’m outraged by it,” Hogarth says. She is not alone. A year-long look into Ontario’s organ-and-tissue donation system shows that provincial red tape and jurisdictional overlap is impeding efforts to get Ontarians listed on the organ and tissue registry.
One major flaw in the system: Ontario’s old red-and-white health cards.
Hogarth is among almost 4 million Ontario residents — about 35 per cent of the population over 16 — who kept their red-and-white cards when the province introduced photo identification health cards in 1995, the same year a database was created to help match willing donors and the 1,500 children and adults awaiting transplants at any given time.
But all of these 4 million may never be asked for their consent to be organ donors — a fact reflected by the provice’s low sign-on rate.
Twenty-seven per cent of people with the photo health cards in Ontario (roughly 1.9 million of 7.2 million people over 16) have joined the organ and tissue donor registry. In contrast, just 0.4 per cent of red-and-white cardholders (15,000 of almost 4 million) are registered.
Experts say creating an online donor and tissue registry would reduce the time and effort required to join, but the province has declined to do so despite agreement from several government departments that a web registry is the way to go.
Consider the American experience. By the end of 2009, 37.1 per cent adult of U.S. residents were enrolled in state donor registries, all but three of them online. Nationally, Canada lags behind eight other countries.
“For a social democracy, it’s not a good track record,” says Dr. Gary Levy, head of the multi-organ transplant program at Toronto General Hospital. “It’s not the patients’ fault; it’s the system’s fault. There’s a logjam, there’s inertia.”
Levy is well-placed to make that judgment. He led the Organ and Tissue Transplantation Wait Times Expert Panel, which met in 2008 and 2009 and whose 26 recommendations have been examined by Ontario’s Auditor General Jim McCarter. Levy says he expects McCarter will embrace the panel’s recommendations when he makes his annual report today. The report is expected to address the old health cards and online registry issues, as well as wait times and the dearth of tissue donation from Ontarians.
The low sign-up rate is a multi-faceted problem Levy says, with some obvious fixes. For starters, “Get rid of the red and white cards immediately.” There is irony here: Levy himself hasn’t upgraded to the new photo health card, he admits, “And I’m the head of the transplant program.”
The approach to registration, Levy says, is another major impediment. Service Ontario staff are trained to renew driver’s licences and health cards. The organ and donor registry is not their primary mandate. “You’ve got the wrong people sitting behind the counter,” he says. “They haven’t been trained properly, they are no necessarily passionate about it, they may not understand what we are doing, there may be cultural issues.”
Last year, Trillium spent $600,000 on Recycle Me a campaign aimed at people ages 15 to 25 that involved 12 weeks of online banner ads, transit ads and a social-media drive. It has been judged a success by Trillium, generating 60 stories in various media, receiving 118,000 unique hits and 3,500 members on the Facebook page.
But Frank Markel, president of Trillium Gift of Life, doesn’t know how many of those 118,000 visitors registered to be organ donors. There was no way to register on the site — at the very moment Trillium held a potential donor’s attention.
“Trillium’s position for several years now, publicly, privately, with government, has been that we need an online registry,” Markel agrees. “The Ministry (of Health) agrees with us intellectually about that.”
He should talk to Penny Clarke-Richardson of B.C. Transplant. She says targeting a younger audience is what led her agency to establish an online registry nearly three years ago. Younger people, she says, just won’t print and mail forms. Since the online addition in June 2008, nearly 18 per cent (19,679) of new registrations in British Columbia have been made online, “and we have caught the demographic of the 19- to 40-year-old we were aiming for,” she says.
The systemic intertia Levy blames for the donor logjam stems in part from the fact that three groups have their fingers in the pie: two provincial ministries and the Trillium agency.
The Ministry of Health and Long-term Care takes the lead on organ donation and last summer put together a working group to plan and implement an online registry, an initiative that harks back to a recommendation in 2006 by the Citizens Panel to Increase Organ Donation. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Government Services is responsible for issuing health cards and drivers’ licenses.
Even Levy’s panel of experts found it difficult to determine where specific recommendations should be directed.
“In fairness to the public, we can make it more convenient,” Health Minister Deb Matthews told the Star.
Matthews suggested families get themselves and friends registered for Christmas this year. “Have a party and you can’t come in unless you’ve shown (proof of registration),” she suggests.
“I can’t imagine a better gift.”
HOW TO REGISTER
There are currently two ways to register as a donor in Ontario: Like Hogarth did, visit www.giftoflife.on.ca and download the form; or at a ServiceOntario office.
Each time a new health card is acquired or renewed at a ServiceOntario office, the employee is supposed to ask whether the client is aware that he or she can register there to be a donor and if they would like to give their consent. Though driver’s licenses are issued by the same employees at the same offices, organ donation is not raised at the time of renewal. A donor form, along with self-addressed postage-paid envelope, is mailed to people with their new driver’s license.
By Barbara Turnbull, Living Reporter The Toronto Star
Linda Hogarth believes it is her duty to register as an organ and tissue donor. It’s certainly fortunate the 70-year-old former saleswoman is committed, because not everyone would have had the time and patience to endure the hassle she experienced.
Her odyssey began when she visited www.giftoflife.on.ca, the website of Trillium Gift Of Life, the agency that coordinates organ and tissue transplants in Ontario. Hogarth printed out the donor form, filled it out, signed it, and mailed it.
Then, she waited six months for a sticker to affix to her red-and-white health card. When none came, she contacted Trillium and was told there was a bottleneck processing forms in Kingston, where the donor registry is maintained.
“I know that the government moves slowly in all its branches, but this is nuts,” Hogarth told the Star.
Hogarth tried again to get a donor sticker, making several trips to Service Ontario offices, where she dealt with three employees before getting the sticker.
“I’m outraged by it,” Hogarth says. She is not alone. A year-long look into Ontario’s organ-and-tissue donation system shows that provincial red tape and jurisdictional overlap is impeding efforts to get Ontarians listed on the organ and tissue registry.
One major flaw in the system: Ontario’s old red-and-white health cards.
Hogarth is among almost 4 million Ontario residents — about 35 per cent of the population over 16 — who kept their red-and-white cards when the province introduced photo identification health cards in 1995, the same year a database was created to help match willing donors and the 1,500 children and adults awaiting transplants at any given time.
But all of these 4 million may never be asked for their consent to be organ donors — a fact reflected by the provice’s low sign-on rate.
Twenty-seven per cent of people with the photo health cards in Ontario (roughly 1.9 million of 7.2 million people over 16) have joined the organ and tissue donor registry. In contrast, just 0.4 per cent of red-and-white cardholders (15,000 of almost 4 million) are registered.
Experts say creating an online donor and tissue registry would reduce the time and effort required to join, but the province has declined to do so despite agreement from several government departments that a web registry is the way to go.
Consider the American experience. By the end of 2009, 37.1 per cent adult of U.S. residents were enrolled in state donor registries, all but three of them online. Nationally, Canada lags behind eight other countries.
“For a social democracy, it’s not a good track record,” says Dr. Gary Levy, head of the multi-organ transplant program at Toronto General Hospital. “It’s not the patients’ fault; it’s the system’s fault. There’s a logjam, there’s inertia.”
Levy is well-placed to make that judgment. He led the Organ and Tissue Transplantation Wait Times Expert Panel, which met in 2008 and 2009 and whose 26 recommendations have been examined by Ontario’s Auditor General Jim McCarter. Levy says he expects McCarter will embrace the panel’s recommendations when he makes his annual report today. The report is expected to address the old health cards and online registry issues, as well as wait times and the dearth of tissue donation from Ontarians.
The low sign-up rate is a multi-faceted problem Levy says, with some obvious fixes. For starters, “Get rid of the red and white cards immediately.” There is irony here: Levy himself hasn’t upgraded to the new photo health card, he admits, “And I’m the head of the transplant program.”
The approach to registration, Levy says, is another major impediment. Service Ontario staff are trained to renew driver’s licences and health cards. The organ and donor registry is not their primary mandate. “You’ve got the wrong people sitting behind the counter,” he says. “They haven’t been trained properly, they are no necessarily passionate about it, they may not understand what we are doing, there may be cultural issues.”
Last year, Trillium spent $600,000 on Recycle Me a campaign aimed at people ages 15 to 25 that involved 12 weeks of online banner ads, transit ads and a social-media drive. It has been judged a success by Trillium, generating 60 stories in various media, receiving 118,000 unique hits and 3,500 members on the Facebook page.
But Frank Markel, president of Trillium Gift of Life, doesn’t know how many of those 118,000 visitors registered to be organ donors. There was no way to register on the site — at the very moment Trillium held a potential donor’s attention.
“Trillium’s position for several years now, publicly, privately, with government, has been that we need an online registry,” Markel agrees. “The Ministry (of Health) agrees with us intellectually about that.”
He should talk to Penny Clarke-Richardson of B.C. Transplant. She says targeting a younger audience is what led her agency to establish an online registry nearly three years ago. Younger people, she says, just won’t print and mail forms. Since the online addition in June 2008, nearly 18 per cent (19,679) of new registrations in British Columbia have been made online, “and we have caught the demographic of the 19- to 40-year-old we were aiming for,” she says.
The systemic intertia Levy blames for the donor logjam stems in part from the fact that three groups have their fingers in the pie: two provincial ministries and the Trillium agency.
The Ministry of Health and Long-term Care takes the lead on organ donation and last summer put together a working group to plan and implement an online registry, an initiative that harks back to a recommendation in 2006 by the Citizens Panel to Increase Organ Donation. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Government Services is responsible for issuing health cards and drivers’ licenses.
Even Levy’s panel of experts found it difficult to determine where specific recommendations should be directed.
“In fairness to the public, we can make it more convenient,” Health Minister Deb Matthews told the Star.
Matthews suggested families get themselves and friends registered for Christmas this year. “Have a party and you can’t come in unless you’ve shown (proof of registration),” she suggests.
“I can’t imagine a better gift.”
HOW TO REGISTER
There are currently two ways to register as a donor in Ontario: Like Hogarth did, visit www.giftoflife.on.ca and download the form; or at a ServiceOntario office.
Each time a new health card is acquired or renewed at a ServiceOntario office, the employee is supposed to ask whether the client is aware that he or she can register there to be a donor and if they would like to give their consent. Though driver’s licenses are issued by the same employees at the same offices, organ donation is not raised at the time of renewal. A donor form, along with self-addressed postage-paid envelope, is mailed to people with their new driver’s license.
“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You
Friday, December 03, 2010
New WHO report highlights second-hand smoke danger
This World Health Organization report that second-hand smoke sickens millions and kills more than 600,000 people worldwide each year, including more than 165,000 children under 5, is alarming. Progress is gradually being made to protect the public with smokefree laws. I recently took a trip through NY, PA, WV, NC and SC and was pleasantly surprised to find that every restaurant I stopped at was entirely smoke free. But a lot more needs to be done. To see where your locality stands on this issue please go the following report by the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation.
U.S. 100% Smokefree Laws in Workplaces AND Restaurants AND Bars
By Dr Ananya Mandal, MD The Medical News
A report, a first of its kind, that assessed all deaths related to tobacco showed that second-hand smoke sickens millions and kills more than 600,000 people worldwide each year, including more than 165,000 children under 5.
The report from the World Health Organization on 192 countries appeared in The Lancet this Thursday and found more than half of the deaths are from heart disease, followed by deaths from cancer, lung infections, asthma and other ailments. It says that more than two thirds of the children’s deaths are in Africa and Asia, where they have less access to important public health services, such as vaccines, and less advanced medical care. American Cancer Society's Tom Glynn said, “These statistics are sad data.”
Tobacco kills nearly 5.7 million people worldwide each year, including 5.1 million people who die from their own smoking. The WHO says smoking is the world’s leading cause of preventable death. The report says, “The combination of infectious diseases and tobacco seems to be a deadly combination for children.” Dr. Annette Pruss-Ustun of the WHO’s Tobacco-Free Initiative in Geneva and her colleagues concluded 40 per cent of children, 33 per cent of male non-smokers and 35 per cent of female non-smokers regularly breathe in second-hand smoke.
Fears of ill effects of passive smoking have led to a ban on smoking in public in many countries. In the USA, 35 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Northern Mariana Islands have smoke-free laws, protecting 79% of the population. Glynn says the “glimmer of hope” is that since smoking bans protect 7% of the world’s population, lawmakers could save many lives by passing smoking bans. Heart attack rates drop 10% to 20% in the first year after the bans are enacted. Studies show smoke-free laws encourage smokers to quit and to make their homes smoke-free, Glynn says. He added, “There is virtually no parent who does not care deeply about protecting their children from harm… They will do the right thing if made aware.” In the U.K., the British Lung Foundation is petitioning the government to outlaw smoking in cars.
The study was funded by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
U.S. 100% Smokefree Laws in Workplaces AND Restaurants AND Bars
By Dr Ananya Mandal, MD The Medical News
A report, a first of its kind, that assessed all deaths related to tobacco showed that second-hand smoke sickens millions and kills more than 600,000 people worldwide each year, including more than 165,000 children under 5.
The report from the World Health Organization on 192 countries appeared in The Lancet this Thursday and found more than half of the deaths are from heart disease, followed by deaths from cancer, lung infections, asthma and other ailments. It says that more than two thirds of the children’s deaths are in Africa and Asia, where they have less access to important public health services, such as vaccines, and less advanced medical care. American Cancer Society's Tom Glynn said, “These statistics are sad data.”
Tobacco kills nearly 5.7 million people worldwide each year, including 5.1 million people who die from their own smoking. The WHO says smoking is the world’s leading cause of preventable death. The report says, “The combination of infectious diseases and tobacco seems to be a deadly combination for children.” Dr. Annette Pruss-Ustun of the WHO’s Tobacco-Free Initiative in Geneva and her colleagues concluded 40 per cent of children, 33 per cent of male non-smokers and 35 per cent of female non-smokers regularly breathe in second-hand smoke.
Fears of ill effects of passive smoking have led to a ban on smoking in public in many countries. In the USA, 35 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Northern Mariana Islands have smoke-free laws, protecting 79% of the population. Glynn says the “glimmer of hope” is that since smoking bans protect 7% of the world’s population, lawmakers could save many lives by passing smoking bans. Heart attack rates drop 10% to 20% in the first year after the bans are enacted. Studies show smoke-free laws encourage smokers to quit and to make their homes smoke-free, Glynn says. He added, “There is virtually no parent who does not care deeply about protecting their children from harm… They will do the right thing if made aware.” In the U.K., the British Lung Foundation is petitioning the government to outlaw smoking in cars.
The study was funded by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Jazz singer celebrates 2nd anniversary of double-lung transplant with Christmas CD
Alex Pangman and her Alley Cats
Please see the following message from Alex Pangman offering to sell her Christmas CD at a very reasonable price. She uses her celebrity status to promote organ donation awareness and I'm pleased to post this offer from her.
On November 4, 2008, Alex Pangman was given a second chance at life. She received a double-lung transplant due to cystic fibrosis at Toronto General Hospital. A three time National Jazz Award nominee, Alex is a favorite of jazz fans and dancers alike and has become one of Canada's leading classic jazz and traditional-swing vocalists. She uses her fame and talent to be an advocate for organ and tissue donation and works closely with Trillium Gift of Life Network in Ontario. Read Alex's transplant story. Visit Alex's Web Site.
"Merv,
I still have copies left of Christmas Gift, the holiday record I produced in 2006 to promote organ and tissue donation awareness. Each copy came with information on donating and was dedicated to the people who wait, have donated, or work in the hospitals with patients. I could do a sale of them for your web-site or email list, $10ppd in Canada or $15ppd in the U.S. with an autograph. Would just love for people to hear the record, because they truly understand the meaning of the words "christmas gift". The disc is ten songs long, and full of familiar songs like "Jingle bells, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, Winter Wonderland, & I'll be Home For Christmas"... and also some lesser known but delightful holiday tunes from the 1930s. Think about it. I could accept orders to my alex@alexpangman.com email address. Alex."
“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You
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